The 58th D&AD Awards Ceremony has taken place virtually. 4 Back Pencils were awarded to work considered by the judges to be truly ground-breaking.

Black Pencil winners:

• INGO Stockholm/David Miami/Publicis Bucharest in ​PR for ​Moldy Whopper for ​Burger King​. A campaign showing the Whopper becoming mouldy across 35 days to communicate the absence of additives in Burger King products.

• FCB Chicago in ​Book Design for ​The Gun Violence History Book for ​Illinois Council Against Handgun Violence​. The book draws attention to a loophole in US law that enables gun violence and visually captures how there has been so much gun violence in America that if it was all captured in a book, it would probably stop a bullet.

• FCB/SIX in ​Digital for its ​Go Back To Africa campaign for ​Black & Abroad​. A pan-African tourism campaign that turns the racial slur ‘go back to Africa’ into an uplifting call to action.

• Family Type in ​Typography for developing ​Universal Sans​, a variable typeface that allows for an extensive range of customisation and unique variations, making flexible and adaptable type available to a wider audience. Universal Sans is the first Typography entry to win a Black Pencil.

The ceremony was designed by Studio Dumbar and hosted by D&AD President Kate Stanners, the virtual ceremony was an opportunity for the creative industry to come together, celebrate great work and give the creative community the platform it deserves during an exceptionally challenging year.

​Black Pencil of the Decade winners

Rivers of Light by MullenLowe SSP3 was voted the industry’s overall favourite and Advertising Black Pencil of the decade, a campaign illuminating rivers with luminous messages for soldiers in Colombia. ​

• Viva la Vulva by AMV BBDO and Somesuch & Co (director, Kim Gehrig) was awarded Craft Black Pencil of the Decade

• Palau Pledge​ by Host/Havas was voted Design Black Pencil of the decade

President’s Award

This year’s President’s Award, reserved for true industry heroes, was awarded to ​Yuya Furukawa, chief creative officer at Dentsu​.

Kate Stanners, D&AD President, commented, ​“​Yuya is the embodiment of creativity. His curiosity and desire to collaborate has meant his influence has reached far and wide. He has led Dentsu on a journey of exploring how creativity can problem solve, not just through advertising but with multiple outcomes. ​He has relentlessly supported and promoted young talent, and is a great ambassador for the Japanese creative industry and likewise international creativity to Japan. I am delighted to award him this year’s President’s Award.​” 

Companies of the Year

The top-ranking advertising winners of the year are:

1. DAVID Miami
2. Dentsu Tokyo
3. INGO Stockholm and Publicis Bucharest (joint third place)

The top-ranking design winners of the year are:

1. FCB Design Group
2. Tom Sharp
3. The New York Times Magazine

The top-ranking production winners of the year are:

1. Iconoclast Paris
2. Framestore Los Angeles
3. Stink Films

The top-ranking clients of the year are:

1. Burger King
2. Apple
3. Illinois Council Against Handgun Violence

Final Design Categories

During the ceremony, D&AD also announced the winners for the final design categories:

• ●  Book Design​ – 14 Pencils: 1 Black, 2 Yellow, 3 Graphite, 8 Wood
• ●  Graphic Design​ – 60 Pencils: 5 Yellow, 14 Graphite, 41 Wood
• ●  Magazine & Newspaper Design​ – 20 Pencils: 2 Yellow, 7 Graphite, 11 Wood
• ●  Packaging Design​ – 23 Pencils: 1 Yellow, 3 Graphite, 19 Wood

In total, 618 Pencils were awarded during D&AD Judging 2020. The number of Pencils awarded by level are as follows:

• ●  Black Pencil – ​4 Pencils
• ●  Yellow Pencil – ​68 Pencils
• ●  Graphite Pencil – ​150 Pencils
• ●  Wood Pencil​ – 384 Pencils
• ●  Next Pencil ​- 5 Pencils
• ●  Side Hustle Pencil​ – 2 Pencils
• ●  Collaborative Pencil​ – 2 Pencils
• ●  Shortlisted​ – 377 entries

Results by Country

1. The United States
2. United Kingdom
3. Japan in third.

Dara Lynch, D&AD Chief Operating Officer, commented, ​“This year, the global creative community deserved more than ever an opportunity to collectively celebrate the power of creativity. While we were disappointed to not be able to host our annual festival and ceremony, we believe that the virtual ceremony continued to recognise outstanding work from the past year and create a moment of unity for the industry. We are delighted to be able to award 4 Black Pencils this year to work that is truly pushing the boundaries. Looking forward, we will all rely on creative thinkers to help us through this pandemic, so it is vital that we celebrate and stimulate creativity at every chance we get.”